Extreme Injury
by Supertails
Summary: Rouge has gone into labor with her and Knuckles sons and daughters... in their own home! With Tails as the closest person with a medical degree, he has to see to it that the baby is born while trying to keep Rouge alive, without the proper equipment.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: ARGH! SCREWED WRITER'S BLOCK! I KEEP MAKING NEW STORIES, HOPING THAT IT WILL GO AWAY! IT MIGHT WORK... HOPE YOU LIKE THIS ONE!

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Extreme Injury

Chapter 1

Sonic sat upon the roof of Club Rouge, waiting for Knuckles to join him. Shadow stood there, pacing back and forth with his arms crossed.

"How long does it take to see if a person's doing okay?" he asked. He stopped pacing and tapped his foot rapidly.

Sonic laughed. "He's not exactly the fastest person I know. If it were you or me, we'd have been up and down in a jolt. Give him a break."

Shadow stared over the Night Babylon's brightly lit casinos and bars to look at the setting sun. He sighed. He wished he'd had someone to love and care for, like Knuckles did. Knuckles had married Rouge only ten months ago.

Finally, Knuckles came up through the stairway onto the roof.

"Well?" Sonic asked.

"Rouge is doing okay. It doesn't seem as if we need to call the hospital yet." Knuckles reassured.

"I told you, you should have called already, no matter what!" Tails said, flying up to the roof. Landing, he added, "Rouge should be in the hospital if she's in labor. Unless you're going for an in-home delivery."

Knuckles looked at the orange-yellow fox. "But the pain she's having is rather acute."

"Acute? That isn't right… usually the pain is greater…"

"How would you know this stuff, Tails?" Sonic asked, laying down on the roof.

"Well, before I met you, I went to many college classes, one of them being a medical school. I even have a medical degree!" Tails took out a diploma. "Mechanics and science aren't my only strengths!"

Knuckles nodded. "I guess so."

Tails smiled. "Would you like me to check on her? I am VERY experienced. I passed medical school in only a month and two weeks."

"What? It takes four years at least to pass medical school!" Shadow noted.

"Well, yeah, but I knew 75 of all that stuff already. I did a lot of reading." Tails walked to the stairway. "I'm sure Rouge wouldn't mind me running a few tests on her, maybe hook her up to some machinery if necessary."

"Sure." said Knuckles. "Let me bring you to her."

Knuckles led Tails down into Club Rouge. They walked down the hallway until they reached Rouge and Knuckles' room. The walked in, and Rouge looked over at the two.

"Hey Tails," she said, weak and tired.

"Rouge, Tails will be your, uh, doctor for now." Knuckles said. Tails stepped forward.

"Don't waste time asking why; I've got a diploma from medical school." Tails said, putting on some medical gloves. "Let's just run through the checklist and see if you're okay."

Knuckles left the room, so Tails could run through the list in peace. Knuckles headed back to the roof.

"Okay, first off, how much pain have you been experiencing so far?" Tails asked.

Rouge gave a weakened smile. "Not much, I'm just tired."

Tails frowned, writing, 'Not much' on his checklist. "Well, If you're in labor, that is not right. You sure you're not suppressing the pain? I'm positive you would be able to handle it."

Rouge frowned. "I have. But I've experienced worse. The pain just seems like it should hurt a lot more."

"It should. I've experienced quite a few births from medical school, and let me tell you, those women were screaming their faces blue. Now, I shouldn't expect that much from you, being tough and all. But if you're really in labor, then I'm worried. No woman has been in labor for one hour and not feel much pain at all, unless something's wrong. But that aside, let's continue here. Do you feel nauseous?"

"No, not really."

"Hmmm." Tails said. He paced around the room. "Well, this completely proves it. You AREN'T in labor. I don't know why Knuckles seemed so urgent when he called me. The main two symptoms don't exist. Buy you are due today, I don't know why you-"

Tails was then cut off by screams, ear-piercing screams. Tails rushed over to the source of the screams- Rouge.

"Rouge? Rouge, you okay?" Tails cried. "Okay, did you do any breathing exercises? Good, 'cause this is where they come in! Oh, god where's Knuckles?"

Meanwhile, Knuckles was waiting with Sonic and Shadow on the roof.

"So, you think Rouge is okay?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah-" Knuckles was cut off, not only by Rouge's screams, but Shadow had dropped to the floor, grunting in agonizing pain.

"Something's-GAH!- Wrong! Rouge is-Ugh!- in labor! FOR REAL!" Shadow grunted. "Hurry up!-GAH!"

Knuckles raced down through the stairs, leaving Sonic to tend to Shadow.

"Tails! What's going on here!"

Tails frantically hooked up machines to Rouge. "Seems someone kicked up the pain level in Rouge labor stage- She's not gonna last if we call an ambulance!"

Knuckles panicked. "Is there anything I can do?"

"No. You're not experienced in all, or any, medical situations! I can handle this!" Tails cried. "But we're aiming for an in-home birth!"

Knuckles asked if he should stay in the room, but was turned down.

"Okay, Rouge, push! You're strong, PUSH!"

Rouge tried, and an even worse surge of pain coursed through her body, making her scream even more. The pain was like being beaten by a hundred hammers. A hundred MILLION hammers.

Tails put his hand to Rouge's forehead. _Oh my God! A fever! She's gonna freaking die in childbirth! Knuckles will kill me if I let her die!_ Tails thought.

Tails tried to conceal his worry in his voice as he calmed Rouge. But the look on his face was all Rouge needed to see.

"I'm- gonna die, aren't I?" Rouge managed to ask.

"I'm not gonna let you." Tails said, fighting back an urge to cry. "Just hang in there, alright?"

"Let's… both." Rouge replied.

Tails was worried. He had ton's of equipment at home that he required for these purposes. It was a wonder how Rouge had IV equipment at Club Rouge. Tails panicked. How would he get the equipment without leaving Rouge?

Just at that moment, Knuckles came through the door again.

"Tails, what's going on? You look worried!" Knuckles asked.

"Knuckles! Thank God! I need you to help me! You have to get some equipment from my house!" Tails shouted, tossing Knuckles a booklet with circled pictures. "I need you to get me those, pronto!"

"But I'm not fast enough!" Knuckles complained.

"Then get Shadow and Sonic!"

"But something's wrong with Shadow!"

Tails was stunned. "What? Bring him here."

No sooner had that been said than Sonic had brought down Shadow and raced off with Knuckles to get Tails' machinery.

Both Shadow and Rouge were now in agonizing pain. Tails didn't know what to do. Shadow seemed alright, but the fact that both he and Rouge were experiencing great pain told Tails one thing- they had some sort of connection through the Chaos Emeralds they owned.

Rouge was sweating mildly, pain still surging through her. Tails sweated as he tried to keep Rouge alive with his lack of machines. Rouge was breathing short, quick breaths. Tails had to do something, or he could lose Rouge- maybe even Shadow.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

Tails was alert and active for more than three hours as Rouge tried to give birth to her and Knuckles' baby. There were many complications- Knuckles and Sonic hadn't returned with the equipment he needed, for example. Tails had gotten Shadow up on a bed, knowing that the only way to help Shadow was to help Rouge, given the reasons for Shadow's pain was through their Chaos Emeralds.

Tails picked up a phone and called his house number, glad to have Knuckles answer.

"Knuckles! You're still there! I need you to get something else for me while you're there- My laptop. It is linked with an X-ray scanner and I need it to check if shadow and Rouge are okay."

Knuckles responded quickly. "Okay, I've already got it, thinking you'd need it. But we have some technicalities. We can't find your heart rate monitor."

"It's in my closet, behind the foldable table."

"Got it!" Tails heard Sonic shout.

"We'll meet you back soon!" Knuckles said. He hung up.

Tails hung up, too, and returned to checking Rouge as best he could without machinery.

"Hang in there, Rouge, Knuckles is on his way." Tails reassured. He checked Rouge's forehead again- still hot. Tails bit his lip. Without the tools and medicine he needed, he could lose Rouge and Shadow.

Finally, Knuckles and Sonic returned with the equipment in a wagon they found at Tails' house. Tails quickly helped unload and almost immediately hooked Rouge and Shadow to their Heart Rate monitors. Soon, they showed the incredibly sped up heart rates of the bat and hedgehog.

Tails scanned Shadow's body after telling Sonic and Knuckles to wait outside. He checked every inch of Shadow's body, and then found something terrible- internal bleeding. He had ruptured a blood vessel, found inferior to the heart on the anterior side. Now, Tails had to operate on the ten-minute old injury and make sure Rouge delivered the baby safely.

Tails got on his operation gear and quickly gave Shadow a sleep gas and an anesthesia. He quickly, but precisely, cut open Shadow's chest and instantly found the blood vessel. After thirty minutes, Tails had stitched the blood vessel, sewn Shadow up and placed an IV in his arm.

Tails went back to Rouge as soon as possible. She was worn out and tired, but still wouldn't give up. Tails checked Rouge to make sure she didn't have anything wrong with her. Then, he found out something startling- She was going to give birth to not only one baby, but FOUR babies. How come Knuckles hadn't told him? Or did he know? He mustn't have, since he never really went to anyone to see the deal with his wife.

Tails was really worried now, as he checked Rouge all over to make sure she didn't have any internal injuries. None.

Suddenly, he heard one, long solitary _BEEP! _Rouge's heart had stopped! Tails instantly reached for the paddles, but hesitated. If he were to use the paddles, he might end up doing something to one of the babies. So, Tails decided to do CPR. He'd only used it once, when Sonic choked on some nachos.

Tails performed CPR right away, and after a few minutes, got Rouge back to Earth.

"Rouge? Rouge, wake up!" Tails called. "You've got one message for you- YOU NEED TO DELIVER YOUR CHILDREN!"

Rouge managed to wake up a little. "Tails… The pain…I-I don't know if I can make it."

"You can, YOU CAN!" Tails reassured. "Here's the situation- you've been in labor with four children for four hours. Think you can make it? I know you're strong enough!"

Rouge's bloodshot eyes widened. "F- f- f-four children?"

"Yes. Four."

"I knew it didn't feel like one child!" the pain increased even more, and Rouge let out a cry.

"Don't worry, you can make it!" Tails took Rouge's hand in his hands.

"I'll try…"

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_Twenty-six hours in labor. Died for five minutes, brought back to life. Four children, two boys, two girls. One patient had a ruptured blood vessel. Fixed in thirty minutes. Both patients are asleep, now, and well._ Tails walked out of the room, large bags under his bloodshot eyes. Yet, he had a large smile on his face. He looked at his white coat, stained by the blood from Rouge's insides.

Knuckles and Sonic were asleep on two of three chairs outside the room. Tails sat down next to the snoring red Echidna, and heaved a long, loud sigh, purposely waking Knuckles up.

"Ah…What? Tails? Is everything okay?" Knuckles asked.

"Knuckles," Tails started, "You are now a father to four children. But don't go in yet; I still need to clean up."

Knuckles was stunned. He shook Sonic awake and repeated the news to him.

Tails smiled, and went back into the room. He gazed at the worn-out and sleeping bat, with her four children all asleep next to her. The first was a female Echidna, fur colored dirty red, like a dark crimson. The second was a boy, a gray bat. The third was a boy too, an orange Echidna. Finally came a female white bat, the spitting image of Rouge.

Shadow was breathing more calmly now, both he and Rouge relieved of their pain. Tails had checked him one last time, making sure he had no more unknown injury.

Tails cleaned up the room, first the blood and fluids from Rouge's body, and then the machinery. He carefully packed up the Heart Rate monitor, then the empty IV's and the rest of his machines. He gave the wagon to Sonic, who raced them back to Tails' house.

Knuckles smiled when Rouge woke at the sound of his footsteps on the floor.

"Hey, Knucklehead." Rouge said weakly.

Knuckles replied softly, "Feeling good, Batgirl?"

The two laughed quietly with each other.

"Harumph!" Tails cleared his throat. "Why don't you two name the babies? I can get official birth certificates."

Rouge nodded weakly. Knuckles agreed. "Okay then, let's start with her." He picked up the crimson Echidna. "Hmm, she looks like a 'Feisty,' don't you think, Rouge?"

Rouge nodded again. "And this little guy over here…" the male bat, "looks like a 'Streak.'"

"Uh huh. And this other guy looks like a 'Courage.'" Knuckles named the orange Echidna.

"Yep. And she looks like an 'Ivory.'" Rouge said.

"Alright then, we have 'Feisty,' 'Streak,' 'Courage,' and 'Ivory.'" Tails said. "Okay! The birth certificates will be made authentically and sent to you within one day."

Rouge smiled, before falling asleep. Knuckles patted her back before leaving with Tails.

Knuckles stopped before they reached the door. "How is Shadow?"

Tails looked at the ebony Hedgehog. "He's made a full recovery, if I should say."

"Wonderful."

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Author's note: Please note that this isn't called "Extreme Injury" for nothing! There will be EXTREME INJURY coming up soon. Stick tight!


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